I just "iPod'd" my wedding...

[mjpd1]

..and it couldn't have gone more smoothly. I'd read horror stories about couples trying to DJ their own wedding via iPod (mostly from professional DJ's) but that wasn't the case. The music was excellent, all hand-picked and controlled by me. If anyone else is considering doing this, it's all in the prep-work. Don't think you can just throw together some playlists the night before and be done; takes a bit more planning than that if you want it to go well...

I started off by creating a Smart Playlist specifically for wedding tracks. Anything with five stars went into the Wedding Tracks smart playlist (I reset all star ratings before starting). Then for about a month, I just gave any songs on my iPod that I wanted in my wedding a five star rating.

A few days before the wedding, I took a look at the smart playlist; had just over six hours of music, which was perfect. I made four standard playlists (Dinner, After Dinner, First Dance, All Dance) and spent a couple hours divvying up the six hours of music into their respective playlists.

When it was all said and done, I had about 2 hrs of music for each of the four playlists, which turned out to be more than enough.

The place we held the reception had house-speakers in the dining hall; about 20+ in-ceiling speakers which sounded phenomenal. They had a special cable specifically for iPods, as this sort of thing is becoming more common. I put someone in charge of plugging in the iPod and hitting play when they got there ahead of us. After that, all I had to do was switch up the playlists when needed (three times total).

I got a ton of compliments on the music, as well as the absence of an intrusive DJ. Not to say that DJ's don't lend an important aspect to these types of functions; they can gauge the crowd and switch up or slow down the tempo when need be (something an iPod cannot do). But that was something I was willing to do without if it meant saving $500-$1,000.

Anyway, just wanted to post up my experience for anyone else out there thinking of doing the same thing. If you have any questions, let me know!

[mrdantownsend]

Sounds cool, glad it worked for you.

And congratulations by the way!

[urbanlegend]

Good for you! I got married before the days of iPod (not too long before, but still before) and I burned CDs for my reception. It did take a lot of planning, but it went incredibly well. I'm too much of a control freak to trust a DJ. I had a guaranteed no-Chicken Dance, no-Macarena reception.

John

[iboon]

I would have done this, but we were forced to use a DJ given our venue (don't ask--high degree of control from the joint).

"No Chicken Dance" reception. Classic.

[bobb-mini]

Cheap bas tard.

[Tonia682]

That's good to know. I am planning to have a 40th b'day party next year and I plan to play my favs from the 70s to the present. I know no DJ would have the gems I have on my 'pod.

[kirs10knight]

Did you just hook up your ipod to their sound system or did you have to buy a dock or anything?

[mjpd1]

Originally Posted by kirs10knight

Did you just hook up your ipod to their sound system or did you have to buy a dock or anything?

They had a cable that connected directly to the iPod and then into an input on the wall, which was connected to all the speakers.

In hindsight, I'd actually recommend using a standard dock, which would give you a line-out connection rather than using the headphone jack.

[Funky Discharge]

I'd bet a month's rent that at least one wedding chapel in Vegas uses an iPod for the Wedding March, Procession, etc. They all mostly use recorded music and have for many years, so an iPod would be a logical next step. And of course, if you tie the knot at the Graceland Wedding Chapel, you're gonna hear The King sing via recording - a hunka hunka wedding wishes or something.

I won't even speculate on the future of iPods in funeral homes.

[DumpYourDJ]

It's great everything worked so well. Congratulations on your marriage.

Those of you who are thinking about going the "iPod wedding" route can check out our website. We provide a super comprehensive package with absolutely everything you need to put together not just the DJ portion, but also the MC side of things. We provide announcement scripts, wedding party introduction styles and instruction, and a lot more. You also get an hour of one-on-one time with a professional DJ who can help put everything together.

You keep 100% control - you just gain a lot of expertise to feel confident everything will run smoothly.

Tim Olson
Google "dump your dj"

Congrats, as long as you have time to do a good job, it sounds viable

[peterthomas]

Now thats what I call and awesome idea, you got the music of your own choice, got rid of the DJ as well, saved money, and had an awesome wedding, what else do we want? iPod paid back its price!